Dependency
by Miss.Mutation
Summary: Chell had never thought she would have to return to the place that she had tried so hard to escape from. Now that she's back though, maybe she has found a reason to stay. ChellDOS
1. Chapter 1

Chell watched wheat stalks blow in the field located god-knows-where as she trekked away from the grey door. She was slowly making progress away from the enrichment centre and everything her life had been, she thought it was funny – after spending an undeterminable amount of time fighting GLaDOS for her freedom, she was finally free to go wherever she wanted. But she had absolutely no idea where she was going, or even in which direction, through the seemingly endless wheat field.

She could only remember being outside once before, when she defeated GLaDOS the first time, and even then it had only been a very brief excursion before fainting. Surely there had to be something beyond the fields of golden stems? Chell could only hope there were other people in the direction she was going. Maybe she could even find her birth parents! The former test subject quickly realised that was a stupid thought. Her parents were probably already dead considering how much time had passed since she first woke up in the relaxation chamber. She didn't feel sadness over there loss, considering that she had never met them. Still, it would have been nice to know her origins.

Her right hand felt strangely empty after holding the handheld portal device for so long. Chell hadn't even gotten to keep that and she wondered if GLaDOS had destroyed it. Probably not she thought, the egotistic robot had probably kept it as a trophy. The device probably wouldn't have been useful anyway considering that most surfaces were not portal-accepting, but she guessed she could have sold it for some food or some water.

Water, she tried not to think about it. She was thirsty enough that her tongue felt dry and shrivelled and stuck to the roof of her mouth. If she didn't find a pool of water or a pond of some sort, Chell knew she wouldn't stand any chance of surviving the day under the hot mid-summer sun.

It was this problem which prompted her to turn back and head to the metal door. Even though she was essentially going back to the place she had been held prisoner, Chell saw it as her only way of surviving long enough to live out her supposed sixty years. Maybe GLaDOS would be kind enough to tell her how to find more humans, or at least give her some precious liquid. The AI had called the human her best friend after all, but that was before she deleted Caroline. She hoped she still stood a chance of getting a reprieve from the unrelenting pain of her cracking lips and burning skin.

Within two hours Chell had backtracked her way to the door by following the trail of snapped and crushed wheat stems. It was only her sheer determination to live that kept her going through the blistering heat that made her body beg for a nap. When she got to the door, she found it exactly as she left it: sealed shut. Her weighted companion cube was still there, so she sat on it and had a small rest. Chell had wanted to take her favourite metal object with her as she walked away, after all it had been a final gift from the AI she had become strangely attached to. Unfortunately her silent friend was a 'weighted' companion cube, and without her portal device she had absolutely no hope of carrying it further than a few metres without exhausting herself.

Chell stood up again and dusted herself off from companion cubes ash covered exterior and looked at the metal door. The handle was padlocked, but she knew that was just the start of the doors locks. In her mind she knew that door was at least a few inches of thick steel with many bolts keeping it closed to prevent anyone accidentally discovering the enrichment centre. It also effectively ruined any ideas she had of sneaking back in without GLaDOS' permission.

She knew what she had to do, but took many moments wiping sweat from her brow to build up the courage. With a shaky, calloused hand the brunette rapped her knuckles against the door, resulting in a loud interruption of the relative silence. She waited a few moments for any response before knocking again. When she still received no reply, Chell banged her closed hand against the surface as her as she could three times before slumping to the dirt. The skin on her knuckles had split and a small amount of blood sprang forth, but she barely felt it. The harsh testing environments and her few miscalculations had made her accustomed to pain.

As Chell was about to get up the door opened a crack and a small camera poked out right next to her face. It remained there for a second before darting back in picoseconds before the door closed. The human cried out in frustration, hurting her sore, dry throat. So she meant nothing to GLaDOS after all. The homicidal robot was just going to leave her out to wither under the hot sun. Well, at least she had companion cube she was about to go back to sitting on her friend when the door opened fully and the elevator came into view. She was saved! GLaDOS did care about her!

With only a pause to regretfully glance at the original weighted companion cube, Chell stepped into the elevator which would take her back to the place she had so desperately wanted to leave only hours ago.


	2. Chapter 2

In less than a minute Chell's pristine elevator had shuttled her past the turret opera and quartet and she was descending into the main AI chamber when her heart caught in her throat. What would she say? Chell hadn't spoken at all throughout her adventures in the enrichment centre, and she wasn't sure if she still knew how. She wondered if anyone had taught her to talk, considering she couldn't remember anything before waking up for her first round of testing. She cleared her throat and winced, and tried to whisper to herself.

"Waaa" Chell paused and screwed her face up, "tuh".

Her voice sounded croaky, but she thought that could just be from her dry throat. Chell composed herself and smoother her hair. Her feet, still tucked into the long fall boots, would already be visible to GLaDOS. Although Chell had seen the AI that very morning, she still felt nervous seeing her again. If GLaDOS felt like it she could kill Chell like an insect now that the human didn't have the portal device to save her. She would have to rely on GLaDOS still feeling something other than revenge or hatred for her or her life would be forfeit.

'Maybe this wasn't such a great idea' she thought to herself, but she couldn't go back now.

Chell put on her strongest face, determined not to back out until she'd got what she needed. As the chamber came into view she saw that everything was pristine, and that it was empty except for the impressive AI hanging from the middle of the ceiling. When the elevator door opened, she stepped out quickly and tried her hardest not to fidget under the penetrating stare of GLaDOS' optic.

The sound of the elevator retreating into the floor was the only thing pervading the tense silence between the two former opponents. Chell opened her mouth to break the silence, but GLaDOS' electronic voice beat her to it.

"So you're back. Come to kill me again? Or just destroy my facility? Or maybe you found another rebellious, moronic core to replace me?" Her golden optic narrowed slightly and she extended further towards Chell. The girl swallowed dryly and replied.

"I need water, and directions to other people, and then I'll leave. I don't want to destroy you so please help me." As strong as she tried to sound, her voice came out raspy and pleading. Her pronunciations weren't perfect and she sounded terrible compared to the polished words of the computer. Chell tried to swallow again, this wasn't like her. She waited for GLaDOS to tell her to leave or portal her outside abruptly, but the AI continued to stare at her with her unblinking golden eye.

"And the mute lunatic speaks. How does it feel for your first sentences to be begging? Besides, I thought that fat you diligently store would have such a high water content that you could live for years off of it." GLaDOS couldn't help herself from poking fun at her former test subject's imaginary weight problems.

"I should just send you back out to die. It would only be fair, you try to kill me twice and I let you die once. You may even see the deer, but you'd try and kill that too, you monster." Chell thought she heard bitterness in the AI's voice, but she knew the AI couldn't hate her that much anymore. Hopefully.

"Please GLaDOS; I really need your help. If you truly wanted to me to die you would have let me float away from the moon, but you didn't. Even after all I did to you, you saved me. And I couldn't be more grateful," Chell paused, hoping she sounded as sincere as she felt, "I need your help again so I can survive. Please, I'll do anything!"

Chell was desperate. She knew if GLaDOS really did hate her, she didn't have a hope. She was already starting to feel faint, which wasn't surprising considering she hadn't slept or eaten in two days with only the adrenal vapours in the enrichment centre's recycled air keeping her from passing out.

The AI just turned away from staring at Chell, processing her options. Maybe Atlas and P-body were getting a little boring. They didn't rise to her baiting, and she couldn't use death as a punishment for failure, or pain because they couldn't express it. Granted she had only been testing them for the better part of a day, but it got tiresome watching them when they couldn't glare at her through the monitoring cameras after the constant witty insults, or repeat the same mistakes, which she always found amusing.

GLaDOS would never admit that she missed Chell as a test subject, but she would degrade herself enough to accept that the brunette human had been much more interesting to test and taunt. Maybe, if she had enough control over the human to make sure no… rebellions occurred, she could take her back. She could have testing between Atlas and P-body still, because she wouldn't let the time taken in their development go to waste, but maybe Chell could help science through completing solo testing chambers again.

In the few moments it had taken GLaDOS to deliberate the pros and cons of having Chell around again, the human had begun to sway unsteadily in her long fall boots, seeing the world spin as she felt light headed. Her heart beat slowed and she collapsed onto the grey-paneled flooring.

GLaDOS spun around quickly at the sound of the thump, and looked at the woman who lay unconscious in front of her for the second time that day.


	3. Chapter 3

Chell woke up in an unfamiliar room. Sleep clogged her eyes and she woke up groggily, feeling like that she had slept too long. She had woken up by herself, and the room was eerily vacant of any sound except blankets rustling around her and her own breath. When she rubbed at her dry eyes she found that her hands were grubby and the rest of her body was still unwashed. Her clothes were unchanged and her feet were still strapped uncomfortably into her long fall boots.

With a bit of a grunt, she heaved herself off the bed and onto the thinly carpeted floor. Chell hadn't really noticed how heavy her boots could feel, but now they felt like they were made of solid lead to her aching limbs. She finally looked around the room, and saw that it was nothing like the relaxation chamber she had been in previously, but she knew she was still in the enrichment centre.

The room was coloured palely, but it struck her eyes brightly in comparison to the test chambers. There was very little furniture, only the bed, a tiny dresser, a small table that an Aperture Science brand radio sat on, a little couch, and a sparsely stocked bookcase. There was one door on the left wall and one to her right, the former of which was obviously locked.

The woman dragged her feet to the left door and found it unlocked. She saw that it was a small bathroom complete with shower, which she was grateful for. Before she could even start to undress, a voice came through a speaker in the ceiling.

"Oh, you're awake. Good. I was beginning to think you were hibernating, because you certainly have been stocking up on fat recently." The voice paused as Chell glared upwards, "I have provided you with a new jumpsuit. We will begin testing immediately after your shower, because I think if you went in there now the poor turrets would die from your pig-filth." GLaDOS' voice sounded slightly more upbeat than normal and less bitter overall.

Chell blinked slowly, finally comprehending her situation. "So, that means I can stay? You won't throw me out or kill me?" Her raspy voice was hopeful. A painful thirst came back to her once she opened her lips, and she hurriedly cupped her hands and drank from the sink. The pure water was heaven to her parched tongue. GLaDOS paused, as though she were fighting herself to not insult the human for her animalistic behaviour.

"Look, I know we have had… rough patches in the past, but we can look over those now, can't we? For science?" GLaDOS had taken to using a slow, almost sincere voice. The human found it hard not to believe that the robot actually wanted to patch things up.

Chell's eyes finally found the rooms monitoring camera which was located just above the locked door. She wondered to herself if this was all just a trick, if GLaDOS just wanted another opportunity to kill her. But no, she thought, if GLaDOS had wanted to kill her she wouldn't have let her use the elevator in the first place or perhaps could have flooded the room with neurotoxin to kill her within seconds. Her curiosity peaked.

"Why are you letting me test? I'll leave if you want me to, if you can tell me where to get water or find other people. With your help I could survive out there if I tried again." Her voice was inquisitive, but not forceful.

The woman wasn't sure if she really wanted to stay in the enrichment centre. She didn't doubt that she could survive on the outside, but she wasn't sure if she wanted to have to make her way on a new frontier. Aperture Science was all that she knew. Or at least, it was all that she remembered.

Chell had often wondered about her own origins. GLaDOS would often joke about how she was adopted, but by who? When she and Wheatley had wandered through the 'Bring your daughter to work day' exhibits she had seen her name on a potato battery, so she had to be the daughter of a scientist. She had probably made that project when she was a young child, but there was no explanation as to how she survived the neurotoxin, or how she had spent her teenage years.

Had she lived in the facility her whole life? She would never know. Chell guessed that she had spent so long in an artificially extended sleep and her memory had been affected. Sub-consciously she knew that GLaDOS would not tell her about her parents or her childhood. The AI was cruel like that.

"You have been the highest-rated test subject so far, and that's including Atlas and P-body. If I can't create something to replace you, maybe you are worth keeping." The synthetic voice was uncharacteristically kind. "Besides, if I let you go you would tell all of Aperture's secrets to Black Mesa. And we can't have that." Chell couldn't tell if the AI was joking.

"Testing will begin in fifteen minutes. Try to go a bit faster." the red light beneath the monitoring camera turned off and she heard the other door unlock.

Chell took her opportunity to get thoroughly clean. The hot water felt amazing on her stressed muscles and cleaning the sweat from her skin became like a massage. Her hair was cleaned and looked at least a shade lighter because of it. She even wiped the dirt and dust from her boots.

When Chell left the bathroom she felt renewed and fresh. A small pile of snack bars and a bottle of water on the small table next to the radio. She devoured the food hungrily and drained the water. Chell still felt a tinge of hunger, but she had to be gone for testing in two minutes and didn't want to risk GLaDOS' anger.

After she strapped on her long fall boots, she looked down at herself. She looked almost the same as the first time she tested, like she hadn't aged a day. Chell thought that the extended relaxation facilities must have nausea her biological clock somehow, which she was glad for. She would need all the energy her relative youthfulness would provide her.

The door to the beds right slid open and Chell walked through the orange portal that was behind it. It took her to the blue portal which was Located in what seemed to be a typical testing chamber. The large well lit board on her right told her it was chamber one of eleven, and the black symbols at the bottom were highlighted to show a weighted cube, a turret, and a thermal discouragement beam. This was going to be a piece of cake, she thought.

The door into the test chamber opened as she approached it, and Chell saw that it was as simple as she thought it would be. Except for one thing; her portal device was on the opposite side of the room on it's pedestal, past three turrets lined up perpendicular to the exit wall.

"What's wrong? You don't have to go that slow. I already have the next chamber prepared, and I'm sure you want to be finished by nightfall, which is in twelve hours, by the way." GLaDOS' voice filled the relatively small test chamber.

Chell rolled her eyes and her determination grew. She would defeat this chamber without even being noticed by the turrets. The cube the sign displayed was right in front of the door. She dropped to a crouch behind it. The small area around her was out of the turrets line of sight because of an energy barrier.

She tried to push the weighted cube so it would hide her as she crawled, but it was almost as heavy as herself. Through sheer determination she managed to push it in front of her until she was behind the turrets. With hesitation she pushed the turrets over. Their final words always made her feel bad.

As the third turret called out "I don't blame you." Chell made her way to the portal device. It was the dual-portal gun, and she was glad for it. The basic tests of only being able to move one portal were boringly simple. She fired a portal above the door opening button, and one under the cube. The button activated and GLaDOS' voice came over the speaker.

"So the sun didn't melt your brain then. I expected you to just run in front of them. Oh well, the elevator is waiting." Chell had missed GLaDOS' teasing after every test. It was like a special thing between them that was always constant.

Chell solved the next three tests easily and without any injuries. They all were simple and involved sneaking by turrets and buttons. GLaDOS seemed to be treating her like she always used to, before she was shut down. Chell had to admit that she loved the wit GLaDOS had with her insults. She still wouldn't reply to the AI because she knew the comebacks she could think of were insufficient and always involved potatoes.

By the fifth room she was getting tired, her muscles had become weary and she wasn't sure why. Chell sat down against a wall after a particularly large jump to catch her breath.

"Aw, tired already? If you solve this test quickly, I'll let you have some lunch. I haven't found enough mercury, so I haven't prepared a cake yet." The electronic voice was almost sympathetic to her weariness.

Chell's dark eyebrows shot up. She didn't know much about food, but she was pretty sure mercury wasn't edible. The advanced AI would surly know that though, so Chell hoped she was joking around and didn't actually plan on poisoning her. After a minute or two she dragged herself off the ground and wearily completed the test.

When she went through the opened exit door she got in the elevator like normal. This elevator, however, transported her to a room that wasn't a test chamber. Instead of the padded white or black panels she was surrounded by mocha brown walls that were in perfect condition. Clearly GLaDOS had either or fixed or remade that room after her extended sleep.

On top of a cream colored table in front of her was a plain looking meal on a plastic tray. Oh well, Chell really couldn't have expected too much from GLaDOS, considering her breakfast had been a pile of snack bars. She sat herself down on a rigid white plastic chair and tucked in to her bland meal.

"Don't eat too fast. My files say that if you eat slowly you feel fuller sooner, eat less, and lose weight. I just thought you'd like to know." Chell ignored GLaDOS' 'advice' and decided to ask a question if her own.

"Why am I so tired? And why are you letting me eat? You never did before." Her voice was garbled because her mouth was still half full of food. She could almost sense that the AI shuddered at her manners.

"I shut off all adrenal vapor supply to your air. To keep you alive for a longer time I had to or your tiny human heart would explode." GLaDOS sighed, "However the side effects are that you will get worn out quickly, and you will need sustenance to live." Chell looked down at her flavorless meal. GLaDOS thought this small meal could keep her going? She wasn't even sure what the different colored mush was.

"Oh, well don't act too concerned, or I may start thinking you care about me." Chell chuckled. It was a preposterous idea that a murderess AI would actually want her to stay alive.

The speaker system overhead went dead abruptly, so Chell finished the rest of her meal in silence wondering what she had said that was wrong. Maybe GLaDOS hated her so much that even the idea of caring for her enraged her. Chell dismissed that idea eventually because the robot had saved her life when it came down to it. The human knew that her own feelings for the AI had changed. It was now like she regretted destroying GLaDOS and she didn't want the all-powerful core to hate her any more. In fact, if the opportunity presented itself she was sure she would help GLaDOS however she could, just like the AI had saved her life.

Chell left her tray on the table because she didn't see what else to do with it, and went back into the elevator. The elevator took her back to her room, to her surprise. She was supposed to do six more tests that day according to the boards.

"What's going on? Where's the next test chamber?" she called out to the silent room.

After five minutes of not getting a reply she sat down on the bed. Chell was determined to get an answer, but her body craved a nap. She tossed her long fall boots and the hand-held portal device over near the bookshelf and laid down. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the monitoring video camera had a red blinking light beneath it. So, Chell thought, GLaDOS had the audacity to ignore her but was stills watching her every move? Barely moments after she look at the camera it switched off as though the core knew she had seen it, and the human felt alone again. With the assurance of temporary solitude Chell dozed off for a nap.


	4. Chapter 4

Chell had a vivid nightmare which caused her to wake up with a start. She remembered a gaunt bearded man hovering over her murmuring words too quiet to hear. His long fingered hands had grasped her arms and shaken her, as though trying to wake her. Very suddenly a loud metallic crash was heard and the man fled through a door in the distance as she woke.

It seemed to Chell that she had not slept long because she woke up as tired as she had been before. When she looked around the room she could not see the source of the crashing sound, and deduced it came from the speakers. She also noticed that the door she had previously taken to the testing chamber was unlocked again.

"GLaDOS? What's happening?" she yelled into the air, hoping that the intelligent core could hear her. Her call was answered after a minute full of worry by an electronic whirring, and finally the voice she wanted to here came over the speaker

"Woah, I'm back. My main hard-drive's were turned off. That's strange. I ll just have to fix it." Chell could hear the annoyance in the voice, "you can do these next tests by yourself, it's not like I could help you anyway. Step into the elevator for the next chamber."

When the voice stopped, Chell felt confused. An advanced AI in charge of a scientifically advanced enrichment centre should not just shut down randomly. She hoped that GLaDOS could figure out the problem because if the AI shut down again she could be stuck in a test chamber without food or water for hours, or even days. Her heart jumped, she needed the AI to stop the facility from destroying itself.

"Can I help in anyway?" Chell inquired, feeling certain the core would now insult her intelligence. She was met with silence for a few moments, long enough for a niggling feeling of uncertainty to flood her.

"No. Your job is to help science through testing. Besides, I'm sure you wouldn't understand the coolant gel keeping my drives from overheating anyway." GLaDOS let the belittling settle in, "Thank you for the offer. Now get in the elevator, or I will never make you cake."

The brunette woman felt her heart flutter when she was thanked. That was odd, she thought, but she put it down to excitement about continuing testing, or to the future possibility of cake.

Once Chell was finally ready to go and had stepped into the elevator, she began speeding through her remaining tests. She missed GLaDOS' teasing after every minor mistake, but she persevered knowing that it would please the personality core. A happy core meant a better chance of easy tests tomorrow.

By the time she had finished the final chamber she felt like her tiredness was a hundred weighted cubes dragging her down and her hunger was acid eating her from the inside. Chell walked through the final door and entered the elevator. It took her to another break room where she promptly took off her boots and placed the handheld portal device on the table.

A plate of hot food awaited her and she devoured it ravenously. She figured that if GLaDOS was still occupied with her hard drive fixing then she wasn't around to complain about bad table manners. The food, even though it had been in storage for a long time, tasted like the best cuisine to Chell, although, she reasoned that could be because she was hungry enough to eat moon rocks.

"Well, my time has been thoroughly wasted. There is absolutely nothing wrong with my hard drives, and the only logical reason they were powered down is because someone hit the off switch, which is impossible because no one is around to do that." The electronic voice sounded both puzzled and assured at the same time.

The gaunt-faced man immediately came to Chell's mind, but she pushed it aside thinking it was only a dream. She could come up with no solution, unless there was another rogue core. She knew that solution was too unlikely considering that all the other personality cores she knew of were well contained together.

"Anyway, there's nothing to fix." the voice over the speaker sounded pleased, "Since I was not there to watch you, I will assume that you failed to recognize every basic concept, and made mistakes at every turn."

"It was hard to make mistakes considering how boringly easy the tests were! I didn't even get hurt today!" Chell retorted indignantly, covering the small cut on her left wrist where a turrets bullet had grazed her. She realized her mistake immediately when GLaDOS replied, sounding smug.

"If those tests were SO easy, I guess I need to make them harder for you," Chell's face paled a shade, "I guess I should use some of my memento chambers. You know, the ones past test subjects died in?"

Chell sputtered unintelligibly, because she knew the tests GLaDOS meant, and she knew that despite her excellent test solving abilities there was a high chance of her being seriously injured from simple mistakes. If the AI was serious, which Chell knew she was, then the next set of tests would be next to impossible.

"Aw, don't look so scared. I'll even pick out the easier ones for you. I'll just see which chambers had subjects with an IQ lower than 120 die in them." Chell could hear the almost muted eagerness in GLaDOS' voice.

The woman sighed and went to put her boots back on, but stopped. There would be no point putting them back on when she would only take them off again. She collected her portal device and stepped into the elevator with her boots in hand, once more leaving her used plate and cutlery behind.

With her final glimpse of the room as the elevator whizzed off, she saw a basic looking robot take away her dirty dish. Chell was only a little surprised to see another Aperture Science machine serving the Enrichment Centre. After all, with all the amazing things happening around her it was hard to think GLaDOS wouldn't need some assistance.

Chell tried very hard to resist going to bed immediately when she got back to her assigned room. She knew she didn't smell very nice after her hard day of sweating, so she pushed herself to have a shower. Her clothes, boots, and handheld portal device were tossed onto the bathroom sink as she stepped into the shower. Chell hesitated and got put again to look in the cabinet under the sink. She was glad she did think to look because she found an arsenal of personal hygiene products. Some of them were already opened so she picked those, though she was confused about who had used them before.

"Make sure not to cut yourself with that razor. I used to sharpen its edge so it could easily slice through skin." GLaDOS' voice resounded in the small closed bathroom from a set of speakers, which were next to a video camera.

Chell dropped everything in her arms to desperately cover what she could of her naked body. She hadn't noticed that camera there before, and she now realized that GLaDOS had been witness to her undressing and dawdling around naked. Her cheeks flushed tomato red as she fumbled for a towel. Her mind didn't reason that GLaDOS was only an advanced personality core and wouldn't care if she was naked, it was too busy processing her embarrassment.

"You are being ridiculous. You don't have any thing that I haven't scanned before. Besides, this used to be Caroline's bathroom, so essentially it was mine and I have every reason to make sure you treat it properly." The core sounded exasperated.

"You trust me enough to give me your room? That's... Wait, I thought you said you deleted Caroline?" Chell was curious, but she still kept an iron grip on her towel covering. The voice sighed in a frustrated manner.

"I deleted most of her; if I were to delete all of her I would essentially die, because as much as I hate it, she still makes up a small part of who I am." Chell's mind started spinning, "Enough chatter, hurry up."

Chell didn't reply and instead threw her towel over the cameras optic, resulting in a cry of 'hey' in protest from GLaDOS, and got on with her washing.

As she stood under the hot water washing her body with a strawberry scented lather, she contemplated GLaDOS. Her head was swimming with realizations. The fact that parts of Caroline still existed inside GLaDOS explained many things that had happened recently, such as the unexpected life-saving and appreciated hospitality.

As she thought of the kindnesses the personality core had given her she smiled warmly and her cheeks flushed. Knowing the AI at least cared that she was alive and helped her live even after she let all her past test subjects die made her heart flutter. Chell stemmed that flow of thought, even to her own mind she sounded like a schoolgirl with a crush. She thought at first that it was a preposterous idea to be attracted to GLaDOS, after all she wasn't human. Chell immediately corrected her own thoughts though, because GLaDOS had the mind of a human, which was a conscience based on a twisted and distorted Caroline.

She couldn't convince herself that it would be unreasonable to be attracted to an intelligent, witty, sarcastic individual, even if they were slightly cold-hearted, mean, and female. The woman let out a long breath, almost relieved to have found some small justification for the butterflies in her stomach whenever the voice came over the speaker.

Chell hopped out of the shower smelling like a strange mixture of berries. She felt cleaner and her mind was lighter. A long yawn slipped out of her wet pink lips as she dried herself. She found a pair of orange pyjamas had been sitting on the toilet lid with the towel and she changed into them, revelling in the feeling of smooth silk on her bare skin.

She finally pulled the towel off the video and used it to dry her damp brown hair properly. Even a comb couldn't help her hair stay flat so she resigned to her slightly wavy tendrils sticking out unevenly for bed. With her teeth brushed and hair in relative order she slinked off to bed.

"Good night GLaDOS." Chell called out though she was unsure if the personality core had started ignoring her. As she drifted off into a forgettable dream, she heard a quiet reply over the speakers.

"Sweet dreams."

GLaDOS kept the camera trained on Chell long after the human fell asleep. The soft breathing she heard provided a contrast to the war going on in her thoughts. She wondered earlier if she had made the wrong decision letting Chell back in. After a day of fruitless problem solving she wouldn't even entertain the thought. The reason, however, she couldn't fathom.

The human looked so fragile curled up asleep. GLaDOS knew deep in her metaphorical heart that if Chell were to suddenly die, she herself would be heartbroken. It wasn't even because of her abilities as a test subject; it was true that some before had been as successful in problem solving.  
Chell had come to constantly occupy a large part of her mind. The woman had gone through so much with her, from testing for her to carrying her around in a potato. She trusted Chell, of that she had no doubt. It probably had something to do with being at the brunettes mercy as a potato for hours, but instead being protected from every fall or accidental mashing. She knew the test subject didn't hate her given the way she had saved her so many times. Saved each other, really.

The more GLaDOS thought about it, the more she realized she depended on Chell. She had discovered that the hundreds of humans in the test subject storage vault had no vital signs, and had been deceased for quite a long time, functioning only as pickled corpses. She realized that Chell was now the only human alive who could test for her and by extension the only one that could make her happy, and give her that true testing mood boost.

Chell was the only one who would take all of the insults to her lack of parents or weight calmly, and the only one who could make GLaDOS's optic beam with happiness each time a difficult chamber was solved, though GLaDOS would never admit to it.

The intelligent core stifled her thoughts as she came to once again feel overwhelmed with affection for the brunette woman. She couldn't narrow down what caused her to feel so protective over and attached to one thing, let alone a human female who had once sought to destroy her.

With a forcibly calm and blank mind GLaDOS turned off the monitoring camera to help resist the temptation of staring at Chell the whole time she slept. The human looked as fragile and innocent as ever, and GLaDOS couldn't justify corrupting the woman in her own mind without Chell even being conscious.

She commanded the reassembly machine to reconstruct Atlas and P-body, so the time that her favourite subject slept wouldn't be entirely wasted.


	5. Chapter 5

GLaDOS held true on her promise of hard test chambers. Chell had gone through the same morning routine as the previous day, and was in her fourth test chamber of the day. It had already been two and a half hours since she started, but Chell wasn't taking any risks.

A risk taken in the harder chambers could easily result in death. Because of this Chell would spend about half an hour in some spots just trying to figure things out. She didn't want to end up deceased like the last person to try those chambers. For this GLaDOS teased her relentlessly.

"Oh, did that food make you too fat to fit through the portal? I could recalibrate the Aperture Science handheld portal device if necessary." GLaDOS sounded bored. Chell frowned, in her own mind justifying the slowness by the desire to live.

"I could go faster if you would let me do normal chambers. It's almost like you're trying to kill me." Chell sighed, but she wasn't as exhausted as the day before due to the amount of time she spent sitting and thinking.

"Maybe I should go observe Atlas and P-body, at least they can complete their tests. I'm quite proud of them, really, they take after their creator in brilliance." Chell didn't hear a mocking tone in the voice, and believed GLaDOS would really leave her alone again.

Jealousy bubbled in her mind at the thought of GLaDOS preferring other tests subjects, and she scowled. In a sudden fit of determination to prove the core wrong she hurriedly completed a risky solution method she had pondered. When it did indeed propel her to the unlocked door, she smirked triumphantly at the camera.

"It took you long enough." That was all that came through the speakers. Chell's mouth drooped.

"At least I didn't die!" she exclaimed, trying to remind GLaDOS that the completed test was previously deemed 'unsolvable', and that the last test subject had in fact died attempting it.

The core made no reply, and Chell's annoyance grew. She stomped to the elevator so she could get the last test over and done with before her temper exploded. All the affection she felt for GLaDOS had temporarily taken a backseat to her outrage over the lack of appreciation for her efforts.

Through sheer tenacity she completed the final test in half the time with only the occasional comment over the speakers. When she finally reached the exit her heart was beating furiously from her efforts.

"You have shown a little improvement since yesterday, and for science's sake I hope you finish faster tomorrow." Chell's jaw clenched. GLaDOS wouldn't even compliment her abilities after she threw her whole spirit into it.

GLaDOS heard a growl through her speakers and witnessed the human storm into the elevator. She pondered whether she had been too harsh towered the woman. The Caroline remnants in her mind demanded she tell Chell how well she had really done, but the other parts of her mind rejected that idea swiftly. After all, she couldn't let the human know just how much GLaDOS cared for her. She shocked herself sometimes with how much Caroline's human tendencies were reflected in her thoughts now that she knew of her conscience. Her metaphorical heart seemed to have become more influential on her and in a sense it had grown considerably.

GLaDOS sighed as Chell ate then showered, and threw herself into bed without saying a word, but kept a slight frown on her face the whole time. Testing tomorrow was going to be difficult with the human in such a mood. GLaDOS felt a small twinge of guilt, knowing she had ruined Chell's good mood.

Chell woke up just as annoyed as she had been when she went to sleep. She ate the breakfast she was provided, noting that it was toast and bacon instead of the snack bars. She considered it to be GLaDOS' way of apologizing, and almost smiled.

GLaDOS didn't speak to her until she was in the first test chamber. Chell frowned as she realized it was another hard chamber from the symbols lit up on the sign. Almost every element was included.

"I decided these more difficult tests would be more suitable for someone of your... talents. That is not an excuse to take an hour completing it." GLaDOS sounded as calm as ever and despite the insult to her testing speed Chell found herself smiling at the compliment to her testing ability.

Chell tried her hardest to complete the test quickly so GLaDOS would complement her again. She arrived at the exit panting with her hair in a mess,  
and with only a small laser burn on her thigh.

"The last test subject to attempt this chamber took twice as long, and fell to his death anyway. These test results show that you are advanced in the areas of turret avoidance and laser redirection." GLaDOS paused, "Well done." The words were strained as though GLaDOS had great difficulty spitting out any word of praise or encouragement.

Chell beamed a smile at the camera and all but skipped to the elevator. As GLaDOS saw the return of the woman's happy mood she knew that the occasional compliment mixed in with the usual sarcasm and criticism would be worth it. The core also felt an unfamiliar joy knowing that with just a few words she could completely reverse the humans mood.

"I do wish I could help you, because it seems that we will be here for years." GLaDOS felt the need to throw in an insult towards the human. Chell had been on the very first part of the second chamber for half an hour, and was rapidly growing frustrated.

Chell sighed in response to the speaker. Her annoyance grew slightly and fortified her determination. The puzzle seemed impossible to her. She needed to get across a large pit stretching across the room, but there were no visible solutions. There were no energy bridges, excursion funnels, or repulsion gel within portals reach, nor were there any high walls for her to gain momentum from.

Out of the corner of her eye she picked out a small sliver of white surface almost completely obscured by a corner on the other side of the room. She moved over to the very edge of the pit and aimed her portal device at the sliver. If she could just move her aim a little more to the right, the portal would be able to open. She shifted forward, but due to a slight misjudgement her foot fell on air and as soon as Chell leaned forwards she started falling, unsupported by the ground.

She heard a scream of "no" through the speakers. The portal gun fell from her hand as Chell threw up her arms to catch the ledge with her trembling fingertips. One hand managed to hook on to the very edge, but her trimmed nails didn't allow her to get much purchase. Her comparably weak upper body strength couldn't hoist her strong legs and heavy boots up. In that instant, Chell thought 'This is how it all ends'. The pit had seemed to have no bottom, and not even her long-fall boots would be able to prevent the trauma of hitting the distant ground. Her eyes grew moist as she felt her fingers slipping, and a single tear escaped.

"GLaDOS, please!" Chell screamed, hoping the core would help her just once. A overwhelming determination to live flowed through her as tears slipped down her face and her fingers slowly weakened.

Chell plummeted after her tan hand finally lost grip. Her long fall boots kept her from falling face first, and instead she found herself rapidly descending in a pose that resembled a belly flop, with her arms flailed in front of her face. The moments that she was falling felt like a lifetime as time around her seemed to slow down and her mind raced. The single regret of failing GLaDOS filled her mind and more tears escaped her eyes.

Her blurred, testy vision could not see an end to the dark hole she was falling into. Very suddenly she picked out a foreign bright yellow portal opening on a wall about fifty meters below her.

The portal carried a hard light bridge from an unknown source and within milliseconds she crashed into the Aperture Science invention. Overwhelming pain filled her senses as she landed on her left arm and bent knee awkwardly. She screamed, and it filled the large empty space around her. Before the sound had time to echo Chell had blacked out.

Atlas looked over to his tall companion questioningly as they crossed the bridge to the bleeding human. P-body shrugged her arms in response because she had no more information on the situation than her friend. All she knew was that GLaDOS had reassembled them for another special mission, and had ordered them to bring the injured woman to her immediately.

Despite her generally timid nature P-body was the first to investigate Chell. The feel of her soft skin was nothing like things she had felt before and the congealing blood was a deeper red than any Turret's eye. Atlas simply lifted the woman with the power of his portal gun and motioned for his orange counterpart to lead the way. P-body gave her one last inquisitive look before marching back to the yellow portal.

Chell moaned softly as her injured limbs swung in the air. Her eyes flickered under her eyelids but a mild concussion stopped her from waking. Her mind was foggy enough that if aliens had invaded the Earth she wouldn't have known.


	6. Chapter 6

GLaDOS looked over her test subject with a worried stare. The woman hadn't stirred except to moan in pain. Her breathing was quickened; although it had slowed from the gasping it had been only twenty minutes ago when the two cooperative bots had carried her in.

The scanning and observation she had done revealed that Chell had a cracked rib, a broken arm and a mild concussion. Her left cheek and kneecaps were bruised, and her lip had been ravaged by her teeth as a method of coping with the pain. To say the intelligent core was worried was an understatement. At this rate she wouldn't have a test subject for weeks which saddened her, but more than that she felt terrible.

The horrid feeling running through her system was a combination of pain and guilt. The pain came from disobeying testing protocol, and though it had dulled it was still excruciating. The rules governing the testing facility wouldn't let her off lightly for saving a subjects life. Alongside the pain was guilt. Chell's injuries were GLaDOS' fault after all, and her Caroline conscience would not let her forget it. If she hadn't pushed the woman so hard with those deadly test chambers she wouldn't have fallen.

She knew Chell wouldn't forgive her. Surely the human would hate her again. Her non-existent heart was breaking every second thinking about it, but she couldn't figure out why she cared so much. A sound interrupted her thoughts.

Chell was screaming in pain after she rolled onto her arm. That terrible sound convinced GLaDOS to go with her back up plan. Initially, upon her order, Atlas and P-Body had arranged Chell in a comfortable laying position and had clumsily fumbled with arranging her broken arm in a natural position. Though the cooperative testing robots tried to helping human, their simple hands weren't designed to do anything other than hold a portal device. GLaDOS had a more efficient back up plan but she was extremely reluctant to use it. The situation however had progressed to the point where it was necessary. After another moment of hesitation she initiated the process of transferring her core's data.

When Chell awoke, it was to the feel of cold hands pressing on her injured arm. Her eyes slowly opened and a whimper escaped her lips as she tried to move her arm away from the painful manipulation of her arm. The chilled digits dug in slightly further and she heard a metallic voice.

"Stay still or I can't help you." the familiar voice scolded. Chell froze when her eyes finally adjusted to the bright light and she saw who was touching her.

A white figure hovered to her side with its hands dexterously winding a plaster coated strip around her arm. The figure was extremely human-like and clearly female. When Chell saw her eyes, which had black sclera and bright golden irises, she knew she was looking at GLaDOS, or at least an embodiment of GLaDOS.

"How?" Chell managed to query throughout the pain and surprise. GLaDOS looked up from her task quickly and their eyes met.

"You fell." The core hesitated and looked away, "It's my fault, I shouldn't have pushed you so hard." Chell shook her head in response, which caused her brain to start swimming. She used he good arm to push her torso up for a better view of the other.

"No, you saved me, again."

The white-skinned woman looked up sharply; clearly she had not expected that statement. Her shiny bobbed white hair framed her angular face in a manner that Chell thought was beautiful.

"What I meant to ask was how you became this." Chell nodded towards the other woman. GLaDOS looked down at her new body and frowned.

"You needed medical assistance, and this is the only way you could receive it properly. The medical wing was destroyed years ago, and there was no other method I would trust." GLaDOS replied in a cool voice while she continued her medical administrations.

Chell smiled and laid back down. GLaDOS really did care for her after all, and that very thought made her feel warm and happy inside despite the cold artificial air surrounding her. A thought occurred to her as she remembered an encounter with Wheatley.

"You're not supposed to help me. When Wheatley tried to tell me the solution he was punished!" She exclaimed, a note of question in her voice.

GLaDOS looked away swiftly and her hair flicked up with the swift motion. Her pale lower lip was briefly clenched between her sharp teeth before she answered.

"I was also punished. My processors shut off for ten minutes from a pain overload. That's why it took me so long to get you here." Her golden eyes were downcast with the memory. She had finished wrapping the other woman's arm and she gently laid it on the floor.

The brunette on the floor propped herself upwards again and considered the other woman in front of her. GLaDOS had sacrificed so much for her, given her so much trust, and cared for so well. She leaned forwards and bought her moveable hand towards the other's white cheek. GLaDOS looked into her eyes, mesmerized as Chell cupped her face in a trembling hand, flinching only slightly at the humans affectionate gesture.

Chell was in the middle of a whispered 'Thank you' when a loud voice came over the speaker system. She immediately recognizes the speech and her voice caught in her throat as her eyes snapped towards the ceiling.

"You hurt her." The voice was frantic and male, but it was accusing, and Chell knew it was the man from her nightmares.

GLaDOS removed her face from Chell's touch and sprinted to a wall where she activated the core transfer device. She plugged a cable into the back of her neck so she could return to controlling the facility, but no process initiated. The panel wouldn't respond to any of her commands or key pressing, and GLaDOS smashed her delicate hand on it in frustration.

Chell pushed herself up from the ground with one arm and moaned in pain as she put weight on her legs. Her knees felt like a hundred weighted cubes were pressing on them. She looked down and found that her feet were still case in the Aperture Science boots and hadn't seemed to have taken any damage. She walked shakily to GLaDOS for the simple comfort of having another being near her, and leaned against the wall to support her pained body.

"I know him. He was in my nightmares." she whispered to the synthetic white skinned woman. GLaDOS barely had time to look up from the core transfer panel before the voice came over the speakers again.

"Don't trust her! She is the cancer of this facility, you can't give up. You wont be able to escape until her rule is ended!" the words were hushed and strained, but the speakers amplification made them cut throughout the still air. Chell's plump mouth twisted into a scowl, and her eyebrows furrowed.

"She's saved me more than once! Anyway, I wouldn't want to escape to a cruel world when my only friend lives here!" GLaDOS looked at Chell in shock at the admission. Previously she had considered Chell's extended stay as a pure necessity, and definitely not as something the human desired. But more than that, Chell had called her friend.

"Who are you anyway? What makes you think you can decide what's best for me?" The brunette questioned fiercely. She wouldn't let a stranger boss her about.

"Doug Rattmann. A paranoid schizophrenic who worked here before I took control." GLaDOS didn't give the man time to portray himself in a good light before stating her own answer. Chell looked over in wonder, the idea seemed impossible to her.

"But... How?" she questioned again. After all, GLaDOS had killed everyone else in the facility.

"I survived the neurotoxin, and I've been running ever since from HER. She wants us both dead and she could do it at any moment. You have seen the pictures I left for you, and all the hints. Didn't companion cube tell you of your role?" the man was confused, and the women thought he sounded almost delirious.

With gasp Chell realized, and she almost hit herself for not thinking of it before. Of course someone else was in the enrichment centre, after all, someone had to have painted all those murals. She remember one in particular from her second adventure that feature a giant painting of her sleeping form. GLaDOS moved forward until she was beneath the speaker system. Before she could yell at the man Chell spoke up.

"GLaDOS could have killed me  
before if she had wanted to. She could have let me fall to my death but instead she saved me even though it hurt her. You don't know her at all, she's changed!" the brunette was growing annoyed at the voice that thought it knew everything.

"I saved you! Your cryo chamber wasn't powered and I fixed it. You wouldn't be here without me," and audible sigh was heard, "I was there when she was made. Every time she was activated, she tried to kill everyone in less than a second. Her programming cannot have changed, and she could kill you right now."

GLaDOS was once again beaten by Chell for a turn to yell at Rattmann, so instead she stood silent next to the human and frowned.

"She's not just a computer program! She has her own thoughts and her own conscious, and if that doesn't make her alive and independent of your 'programming', I don't know what could!" Chell was all fired up with defending her only friend, and GLaDOS simply looked on in slight wonder. When Rattmann replied, he sounded saddened and hopeless.

"Then you won't stop her? I can't let her escape to plague the world, even if it means you must be destroyed with her. I'm sorry." the mysterious male sounded so sincere when he said it that it disturbed Chell. He was willing to kill her to stop GLaDOS?

A sliding noise resounded around the room as panels moved to reveal open pipes. Chell was about to question GLaDOS when she was quickly hauled into a golden portal that hadn't been there two seconds ago. The women emerged far above the main AI chamber, and through a hole in the roof of the chamber she could see green water flooding the area they had been just a few seconds ago.

She looked up and marvelled at the way GLaDOS moved the golden portal to somewhere in the distance so water did not flow through the black portal to them.

Chell reached over and grabbed GLaDOS' hand and turned it over. The synthetic woman relaxed in her grasp as the brunette examined her built-in portal device that appeared as a black hole in the palm of her hand.

"Why did you make this body?" she queried, despite knowing there were many more important things they should be discussing. GLaDOS stated down at her with a slight frown.

"When I thought I was going to kill you, and I hadn't made the cooperative bots, I considered testing myself with randomly generated tests. I modelled it after the human females in my databases. And now I'm stuck in it unless we can get back to the core transfer grid. So let's get going." GLaDOS pulled her hand from the humans grasp and began walking down the ramp. Chell trailed after her at a slower rate, wincing as her knees protested to the movement.


	7. Chapter 7

I would just like to take a quick moment to thank all of you who are reading this story. Every time I receive an email that someone has added it as an alert, favorited it, or reviewed, I get so unbelievably happy. Thanks for reading!

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"Where are we going?" Chell asked after they had walked for a few minutes.

"The only place he could have controlled my chamber from and turned off the core transfer grid. It's quite far from here, and I know the only way is to go through the old chambers, unless you have learnt to fly." Chell stared at her with a raised eyebrow and opened her mouth to speak but the construct cut her off. "No, we don't have to solve the chambers. They are in such a state of disrepair that we will be able to avoid the sealed doors."

Chell nodded and they kept walking. She stared at the back of GLaDOS' head the whole time. The back of her pure white hair was swinging with every graceful step she took and Chell found it mesmerizing. It temporarily drew her mind away from the pain of walking because she was too busy marvelling at the beautiful creation leading her onwards.

After five minutes more of walking in a comfortable silence Chell spoke up. The pain in her knees was too severe for her to keep quiet and continue on.

"Can we stop for a minute? My legs hurt and I don't want to injure them anymore." At her softly spoken words GLaDOS stilled her feet and looked back in a calculating manner at the brown haired woman. As she flicked her eyes to the humans trembling purple knees that poked out over the long fall boots she felt a wash of emotion similar to sympathy and guilt.

"This body has the capacity to carry someone of your weight, although I will not do it for long." GLaDOS moved towards the woman who stepped backwards.

"I can go on if I rest for a moment, really. I don't want to burden you or use up your power." Chell's face was set with a determined expression to be independent. GLaDOS rolled her eyes and scooped the test subject on to her back. Chell's form was rather light, but she could feel the compact muscle ripple under the tanned skin. She really didn't carry any of the imaginary fat that GLaDOS proclaimed to exist.

"We have to get to him as soon as possible and we can't be delayed by your tenacity. Besides, it's not like I will drop you." the white skinned woman continued her march at the same pace, as though she wasn't carrying another human on her back like a monkey.

Chell pouted slightly but rested her head on the smooth back of the woman she adored. Her body was too tired to fight and her sore legs hung limply by the other woman's sides, but felt much better considering that no weight was on them anymore. She sighed contentedly and wrapped her unbroken arm firmly around the woman carrying her. The stark metal pathway and artificially constructed scenery passed by at a faster rate than it had when she had walked herself.

Golden eyes rolled and a black lipped mouth curved into a secret smile when GLaDOS heard the deep and even breathing of her companion. Chell had been lulled to sleep by the gentle rocking of her walk and the quiet hum of her cooling systems. After twenty minutes of progress she shifted her hands slightly to get a better grip on the thighs of her burden as she felt the weight sliding down her back slowly.

If her synthetic cheeks could flush as humans could, she would be as red as a tomato. Chell's arm had slipped down on her chest and was now resting on a pale breast that was barley protected by the thin lab coat-like dress that she wore. She regretted installing pain sensors under the artificial skin of her body because it now became obvious to her that not all contact was painful. It had seemed like a good idea when she had designed the form to emulate a human test subject as closely as possible, but the dulled pleasure the sensors relayed to her core were convincing her otherwise.

She awkwardly tried rolling he shoulder to influence the arm to move away from its teasing position. Chell stirred slightly from her nap and clasped her hand tighter and wrapped her legs firmly around her carrier's waist. GLaDOS bit her metallic tongue with sharp teeth to keep a small moan from escaping her mouth. The human was too far out in slumber land to realize the unintentional stimulation she was bringing the other woman, and GLaDOS felt perverted for corrupting Chell's innocent clinging with her perverted feelings.

With hasty movements she dropped to her knees and allowed Chell's feet to touch the ground so she could pry the offending tanned limbs from her overly sensitive body. The brunette was woken forcefully as GLaDOS peeled her body off. She realized quickly how she had fallen asleep and forced GLaDOS to carry her further than intended.

"Sorry," she yawned, "but I feel way better. Thanks for carrying me." Chell grinned at the construct as she rubbed the remains of sleep from her eyes.

When she could see clearly again she noticed the perplexed look on the other woman's face. GLaDOS had turned on her heel and continued walking at a fast pace before she could ask what the strange expression was for. Chell took it as a cue to drop the subject as she hurried onward to catch up.

"So, he didn't communicate anymore?" White strands of hair flicked in front of her as GLaDOS shook her head. Chell waited for the other to elaborate, but the core remained oddly silent. Her pink lips pouted, wondering what she had done to get the silent treatment. She decided to ask a question GLaDOS would have to answer verbally.

"What will we do when we get to him?" GLaDOS didn't stop or look back, instead she replied quietly.

"He is not a bad person, but we must stop him. He threatens this whole facility with his delusions." GLaDOS paused and was about to continue, but Chell cut in.

"You're not going to kill him, are you?" she asked hurriedly, mouth agape and eyes wide. She immediately chastised herself mentally. GLaDOS was different now, and her murderous thoughts and disregard for the value of human life had subsided slightly. It wasn't right of her to jump to conclusions when the core was progressing well and developing a conscience. GLaDOS did not react badly to her question though, and seemed to ponder her answer.

"I hadn't planned to, but if it comes down to preserving Aperture Science or his life, I'm sure you know which one I will choose." she let her words sink in, but an idea struck her. "He trusts you! He paints you all over the walls. You can convince him to leave." she smiled at her marvellous plan. Even though her construct processors had nowhere near the power she normally possessed, thinking was just as easy to her and nothing like the terrible mental oppression of a potato power source.

The corners of Chell's mouth twitched downwards. She had realized before that Rattmann had painted those portraits, the hints, and the tributes, but thinking about him staring at her as she solved tests and fought GLaDOS disturbed her. He couldn't, however, justify sending him out into the harsh outside world when she barely lasted a day.

"Couldn't he stay? He worked here in the past so he could help you." She smiled at GLaDOS, hoping to convince her. After all, the woman had allowed her to stay because she could help with testing.

"No. He is too unhinged. If he was allowed to stay under the pretence of forgiving me he would without a doubt try and destroy me again. Or don't you care about me?" GLaDOS looked over her shoulder as she walked. Chell was lagging behind, blushing and opening her mouth to speak before quickly shutting it again. The core smirked to herself, that reaction was interesting.

"I don't want you to die; my life wouldn't be worth living." Chell closed her eyes, "Can we at least give him supplies so he can survive?" when her eyelashes parted GLaDOS saw her hopeful look. She smiled openly back at the human, showing her sharp polished teeth. The woman felt a bit ridiculous considering how often she had scolded Blue and Orange for human-like gestures even though she was becoming worse than them.

"My existence would be dull without you also, as I would again have no human to test. Don't worry about him, he is quite advanced. Consider how he has scavenged food and heat with the help of his weighted companion cube all this time. He will do just fine out there."  
Chell's beaming smile made her stomach flutter.

The brunette was happy to hear she was valued by the other, and proud that she herself had hinted at her feelings for her companion. They continued on in silence until Chell interrupted it a few minutes later.

"He might eat that deer that you saw." she stated, worrying over an innocent animal that she had never personally noticed.

"Maybe he will roast all of the stupid birds too!" GLaDOS grinned menacingly at the thought of revenge on the feathered fiend that had assaulted her potato form.

"That bird was just hungry, and you were food. You can't really blame it." Chell frowned worriedly. She went to continue defending the bird, but her stomach growled loudly. Just thinking of a bird wanting food made her remember that she should be eating dinner at that time. GLaDOS closed her eyes thoughtfully upon hearing the sound. She opened them again a moment later, remembering a solution that was not put of the way of their destination.

"We will be in the old testing facilities in a few minutes. There is a break room next to the observing station, and it should have access to the food supply." Chell's full lips stretched into a smile, and she nodded wordlessly in thanks.

GLaDOS continued to lead the way to the decrepit buildings Chell could see in the distance. When they arrived she could see the full extent of the damage the out-dated area had taken. Some of the walls had collapsed, and panels were hanging out everywhere so she could see into the actual chambers. They seemed to be simple cube and button tests, and the first, most visible room was small. She could clearly see the observation window through the broken wall, and GLaDOS claimed that the break room was right behind it.

Once they were in the room GLaDOS provided portal transport through the broken glass window and with a few paces they were in the break room. Chell looked around at the simply furnished room with doubt. Everything seemed pristine compared to the ruined test chamber, but she still did not believe that anything that had been around as long as GLaDOS had been in control could be edible. She sat on a dull couch, appreciating the rest, as the artificial woman moved towards a bench that seemed to have basic cooking facilities. GLaDOS pushed a few buttons on a wall panel and a clunking sound broke the room's silence.

"What is there here that's edible?" The white haired woman didn't answer verbally. Instead, she carried over a tray of steaming hot food to the human. Chell's grey eyes widened at the assortment of food that was placed gently on her lap. "How did you do that? Where did this all come from?"

"There is food stored long term in this facility. There's enough to last for more than a century. It was kept to feed test subjects such as you." GLaDOS sat on the couch next to Chell rigidly. She did not want to waste time that could be spent getting to the deranged man controlling the facility, but she knew the human could not cope without rest.

"That's amazing. So, are you going to eat?" Chell was trying to eat the hot food because her stomach demanded it, but she found it rather hard to eat with just one hand. Luckily most of the food was already cut or wasn't solid, so she could manage with just a plastic fork.

"Of course not. This unit is completely electrically powered, and the battery has a life of up to two months." GLaDOS rolled her eyes and rested back against the cushioned seat. Her golden orbs found the ceiling and she studied it intently to distract herself from the human she found herself completely enamoured with.

"I was worried that you might run out of charge before. It's good then, I guess we will be able to get to him without problems." Chell continued eating in silence when GLaDOS didn't reply. She finished the meal and found herself quite content with a full stomach and minimal movement. Her hand came up to stifle a yawn unsuccessfully. Even after her nap she felt tired; the warm food had made her drowsy. Her companion looked over at her with eyes slightly narrowed in concern.

"You can sleep if you wish to. It would be pointless to continue if you are too exhausted and injured. I will wake you in seven hours." Chell grinned at her in pure happiness and GLaDOS moved to get up. Before she could remove herself from the couch Chell had laid down with her head over the other woman's thigh. She continued smiling as she started up at the annoyed white face above her.

"Get off me. Now." She spoke with all the authority she could muster. Chell didn't budge. The core's voice wasn't nearly as threatening when it came from a visible pair of lips instead of over a speaker in a test chamber.

"Nope. You're my pillow. Besides, the other chairs don't have cushions. Wouldn't you rather stay here?"

GLaDOS replied with a quiet grumble before she relaxed back on the seat. Chell snuggled into her legs, which were much softer than she had thought they would be. Her lips were still bent upwards with the knowledge that GLaDOS was still allowing her to rest on her even though she could have pushed her off and moved.

"Goodnight." She whispered to the construct, and she barley heard the word returned to her by GLaDOS as she drifted to sleep. GLaDOS resigned herself to a night full of listening to the human sleep as the rest of the facility was silent. She almost hoped that Doug Rattmann would speak again to interrupt her thought of the human female snoozing on her legs.


End file.
